No, I’m not talking about the stuff that’s going to get your thrown in the slammer for pirating videos and games, but there are several resources out there that will let you take the edge off without dumping the ridiculous $3 or $4 dollars at the rental store, or more outrageous $10 or $12 at the movie theatre…

There are several sites out there today that allow you to skip the pricey movie theatres and video rental stores; streaming video has really become pretty advanced these days and if you know how to connect your computer to your TV and surround system, you may not need to visit the movie store any time soon!

You May Already Have These

If you’ve got Comcast, you’d be surprised to see what they have to offer on the On Demand side. The rewind and fast forward functions have been slow for me in the past, but they really don’t have a bad selection of quasi-new releases. They have a selection of what is cooking now that can be found here.

Again if you’re already paying for Netflix, they offer streaming movies online now as well. They’ve got the newer ones you’re probably looking for that outrank the Comcast setup, but again, it’ll cost you a few bucks if you’re not subscribed to it yet. See how it works here.

Network’d TV

Most of the major channels actually offer their sitcoms via their websites as well. They play with a bit of commercial interruption, but they’re getting the hang of it and realizing that the world is turning to the computer for a lot of entertainment these days. CBS / ABC / NBC / FOX

I’m a big fan of the Discovery Channel, but I’m not a big fan of the viewer you have to download to watch their full episodes. I downloaded it, but I still don’t like having to download something to watch content.

Free-er” Content

I’ve ran across onlinemovieforum.com before and have seen a few flicks that they offer. They have a lot of the stuff that’s filmed on the video camera at the movie theatre, but if you’re chomping at the bit, but not willing to pay for it, rumor has it that it’ll do.

Play Games

I’ve never been a big fan of the newer gaming systems. The last system I played religiously was the Nintendo. Yes, straight Nintendo. And magically most of those games can be played at virtualNES.com for no charge.

Yahoo! Games has more games than I’ll ever be able to begin to play, but it has a lot of the classic board and card games that I enjoyed playing at one time until I discovered blogging. 🙂

If you’re looking to play something on the fly with pretty good accuracy check out TopRankedGames.com courtesy of DavidMakesCents.com. David has crafted up a pretty ingenious setup over there and has some very interesting games that can be easily integrated into your own website. I couldn’t find Global Thermo Nuclear War, but I’ve always been a big fan of chess. Want to play?

I would add Gamefly.com (the Netflix of video games) for games. You can get a free two week trial and get a couple of games to play. Then cancel and you won’t be charged. For Network TV, don’t forget about Hulu.com, they have that and then some available online for free.

And to go see movies in the theater check out things like Kerosotes’ Five Buck Club and Red Box, those kiosks are everywhere and you can find codes online to get free rentals.

I would add Gamefly.com (the Netflix of video games) for games. You can get a free two week trial and get a couple of games to play. Then cancel and you won’t be charged. For Network TV, don’t forget about Hulu.com, they have that and then some available online for free.

And to go see movies in the theater check out things like Kerosotes’ Five Buck Club and Red Box, those kiosks are everywhere and you can find codes online to get free rentals.

We get loads of free movies and CDs at the library. In our case, the last two locations we have lived have both had loads of new releases. You can even track it online, put things on a waiting list etc.

We also have eRewards accounts. We redeem our points for free coupons for BlockBuster videos. You get 6 free rentals once a year. We work it so we don’t overlap on our redemptions thus giving us one free rental monthly.

We upgraded our TV last year to a new HDTV. On Comcast if you scroll up to the higher channels, you can find the OnDemand stuff free on NON-HD connection. Our channels look like 123.1, 119.1 etc. There is a decimal. It also pays to sometimes just reprogram your TV to reveal new channels.

Oh man…I LOVE the old mario games. I just tried to play and it is just too hard to retrain my fingers. Using the x and z keys to jump and shoot with my left hand. My brain wants to me to use my right hand for those things. lol Shows how well trained my hands are! LOL

Disclaimer

I am not a financial expert. I am good with my money and I would like to be able to someday give better financial advice to my kids than I got when I was young. Don't take anything I say as GOLD. Take it with a grain of salt and form your own opinion of how you should use your money.